The Image staff muses on the culture of keeping up appearances

Designer/director Tom Ford's impeccable menswear is a favorite of male stars -- think of Colin Firth in a Tom Ford tux at the Screen Actors' Guild Awards a couple of weeks back. (Ford, of course, directed Firth in 2009's "A Single Man.") Now Ford, who is launching his long-awaited women's wear line, is opening a boutique on Rodeo on Friday -- the timing just happening to coincide with the runup to next Sunday's Academy Awards. Our Booth Moore sat down with Ford ahead of time to talk about his new customer-focused approach to fashion. Read her whole interview here.

But she got some other interesting factlets about this innovator and celebrity favorite that we just had to share:

Favorite L.A. lunch: The Grill on the Alley in Beverly Hills. But he parks at Barneys New York so he can walk to his new store and check out the competition.

Guilty pleasures: Hostess Donuts and diet soft drinks. Ford gave up drinking alcohol two years ago.

Everyday uniform: When he’s not naked (“I’m naked from 5 p.m. Friday to 9 a.m. Monday morning, he says), he has a different “look” depending on where in the world he happens to be. In London and L.A., it’s a suit. (“I love being one of the only people in a suit in L.A.”) In Santa Fe, where he has a ranch, it’s western shirts, jeans and cowboy boots — brown, not black, because they look better with dust. And in the Caribbean island of Mustique, where he spends Christmases, it’s lilac pants. Everything is Tom Ford, except for the occasional Gap T-shirt, Levi’s jeans and Ralph Lauren ski clothes, “because we don’t make ski clothes yet.”

Bedside reading: “ ‘Cleopatra: A Life.’ Cleopatra was not a beauty, and no images exist of her other than a coin,” says Ford. “In all of the descriptions of her, no one says she was beautiful. She was intelligent, captivating, well-educated. She had a strategic mind and she charmed through her personality. For me, inner beauty becomes outer beauty. The French have a term for it, jolie laide.”

Biggest mistake men make when they get dressed: “Not buttoning their jackets. It takes pounds off! And men should not wear shorts in the city unless they are jogging. And men should not wear sandals. If you're at the beach, if you’re in Greece, great. If you're in L.A. walking down the street, or on the plane, no.”

Biggest mistake women make when they get dressed: “Wearing things that aren't comfortable, because you're preoccupied with it and you can't focus. If you're not happy with it in the morning, even if it's a new dress, don’t wear it. Sell it on EBay.

-- Booth Moore

Photo: Tom Ford knows how to work the spotlight. During last year's award show season, the designer-director was riding the success of his first film, "A Single Man." This time around, he's introducing his long awaited women's collecton and new boutique on Rodeo Drive with a star-studded opening party. Credit: Simon Perry.